James knight



PATENTED JUNE 30, 1868.

J. KNIGHT. INDICATOR FOR STREET RAILWAY GARS/ JA'ME S. KNIGHT, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.-

Lettefs Patent No. 79,480, dated June 30, 1868.

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To ALL WHOM 1 MAY GONGERN- 4 Be it known that I, JAMES KNIGHT, of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improved I 4 V Indicator for Street-Railway Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to .be a full, clear, and exact description of the same. r

My invention consists of an indicator operated partly by clock-work and partly by the revolvingsvheel or axle of the street-railway car, to which it is applied, the said indicator determining at the end of a trip whether the car has been runningrcgulanly, and if not, at what points on the road improper stoppages have been made, or where the speed of the car has been improperly'increased oz gega ded; all of which is fully described hereafter;

In order to enable others to antenna gissnyisvasnsn, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms apart of this Specification, and in which' I I Figure 1. is a face view of my improved indicator for street-railway cars.

Figure 2, a vertical section of the same on the line 1-2, fig. 1.

Figures 3, 4, and 5, detached views illustrating my invention.-

s 6, mer enaries; n

Figures 7 and 8 detached views drawn to an enlarged scale.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The cas'A of the indicator, which may be octagonal, round, or of other convenient form, is provided with" a dial-plate, B, hinged door 0, and detachable hack D, and to the latter, within the case, is secured a plate, E,'

1 connected by rods a, fig. 2, to a similar plate, E. A -clock-spindle R'is arranged to turn in the plate E, and

in a tubular stem, 6, of the plate E, the latter passing through an openingiin the dial-plate B, and at the outer end of the spindle is secured a minute-hand, G, operated in the usual manner by clock-work, contained between and turning in the opposite plates E and The spindle F is divided into two parts, one 'portion, c, fitting over and being arranged to slide upon, but

not to turn independently of the other portion, 0, as shown in fig. l, and to the inner end of the portion 0 of the spindle is secured a disk, 01, against one side of which bears a spring, a, having a tendency to force the opposite side of the disk against a cam-wheel, H, thelatter being hung to a spindle,f, turning in the opposite plates E and E, and being connected by suitable cog-gearing with a coiled spring, g, (fig. 2,) whose spindle, also turns in the opposite plates, and projects through an opening in the dial-plate B, as shown in fig. 1, so. that it may be readily turned in order to wind up the spring.

Five pointers or hands, It, h, 71. 7L3, and h, are, in the present instance, hung to the stem 6 of the plate E, each ha'nd being split, as shown in fig. 5, so that it may he sprung upon the ,stem, and thus fit sn ugly to the some. Wcshers i intervene between the hands, and the whole are confined to the stern by a nut, i, (fig. 2,)

which so regulates the pressure upon the hands that a slight force is necessary to turn them either separately or together upon the stem 15.

The minute-hand G has projecting from it towards the dial-platea pin, j, (fig. 2,) which, as the hand revolves, strikes and turns'one or more of the loose hands It, according to the position of the sliding portion a of the spindle F, and the latter depends upon the position of the cam-wheel H, which is operated by devices which I will now proceed to describe.

Aratchet-wlieel, I, figs. and 3, is hung to a spindle, k, which turns in the opposite pistes E and E, and is operated by a wire, I, through the medium of an arm, m, and spring-pawl m, as shown in fig. 3, and on the outer end of thespindle k is a pinion, p, gearing into a cog-wheel, q, upon a spindle, q. The latter wheel and a spindle, q, are arranged to move longitudinally upon but not to turn independently of their spindle, as shown in fig. 8, for a purpose described hereafter, and the pinion gears into a cog-wheel, J, which turns on the stem 1;. Extending around the. face of the latter wheel is a dove-tailed guide, r, to which are secured, at determined points, adjustable blocks r, each having a projecting pin, 8, which, as the wheel J revolves, are arranged to strike and partly turn a rod or arm, 8', of a spindle, K, (fig. 6.)' The latter is also provided with two other arms, tand u, and with acoiled spring, '0, which has a tendency'to turn the spindle in the, direction of the arrow 2, fig. 5. a I p The bent end of the arm t of thespiudlc passes beneath, and-is arranged, when operated by the wheel J,

to turn an arm, w, of a second spindle, L, so as to raise the bent end of the latter clear of the notch'd flange z of the cam-wheel H, as shown in figs. and 6. The cam-wheel is thus permitted to turn by the action of its spring until its motion is arrested by the pin yet a eog-wheel, y, with which it is geared, the 'said pin striking the arm at of the spindleK, as will be more fully described hereafter.

Operation.

The indicator above described is placed within a street-railway car' in .such a position that. its wire, Z, canbe readily attached to a cam or eccentric on the axle or wheel, or to any suitable .device that willrimpart to the wire a regular reciprocating motion as the axlerevolves. V f

The clock portion of the indicator, and the spring g, by which the cam-wheel II is operated, are wound up upin the usual manner, and the ratchet-wheel I, and cog-gearing connected therewith, are operated as the caraxle revolves, through the medium of the wire I and spring-pawl m, I

The rate of speed at which the car is to travel, and theproper timefor crossing certain streets having been determined, the minute-hand G and all of the hands It are turned until they pointto the figure XII, or startingpoint of the dial-plate. Then, before the car is started, an authorized person so adjusts the blocks 1' of the whcel J, that their pins 8 shall, at the proper time, and in succession, strike and turn the arm a of the spindle K, as will .be hereafter described;.ufter which the door 0 of the indicator is closed andlocked to prevent unauthorized persons from tampering with the instrument. I 4 i i The car is then started, and the minute-hand G, actuated by its clock-work, begins.to travel around the dial-plate B, carrying with it, by means of its pin, j, (fig. 2,) all of the hands h, and, at the same time, the ratchetwheel I is turned by the revolving axle, its motion being communicated by the gearing described to the-cogwheel J, which revolves slowly in the direction of its arrow, (figs. 1 and 6.

If it be desired to indicate the proper time of. crossing the first street, say fifteen minutes after starting, the

P n a of the first block 1", which hasv been previously adjusted, strikes at the end of that time the arm ':'-of the v spindle K. The latter is turned by the pin, and the arm 10 (fig. 6) is raised clear of the first notch 2:"of the cam-wheel H, but the latter is prevented from turning by the pin y of the cog-wheel g, which strikes the arm u, as shown in fig. 6. 4

The wheel J continues to revolve until the pin a pessesthe end of the arm a, whep the latter, and the arms .2: and it will, by the action of thespriug 1:, turn in the direction o'f'the arrow 2, fig. 6, thus permitting the wheel y" to turn, and the arm to to fall upon the flange a: of the cam-wheel H. The latter, then, by the action of the spring g, turns in'tlie direction of the arrow until the endof thearm to falls into the second notch z", and thus arrests the motion of the cam-wheel.

During this partial revolution of the cam-wheel H, the disk d of the spindle F, which bears upon it, is, together with the-sliding portion .0 of the spindle, pushed outwards-until the pinj of the minutehand is clear of the indicating-hand 71, which is then no longer moved by the minute-hand, but is left pointing towards the figure III of the dial-plate, as shown in fig. 1.

After leaving the hand h, the minute-hand and remaining iindicating-hands continue to travel around the dial-plate until a suilicient time has passed to enable the car to reach the second cross-street, which we will suppose to he in half an hour from the time of starting. At the end of this time, if the car-has been running regularly, the second pin 8 of the wheel J will strike and turn the arm 8, thus releasing the cam-wheel H, and permitting it to turn until the hand G has been moved outwards sufiicieutly to drop the second indicating-hand hfwhich it does at the figure VI of the dial-plato, as shown in fig. 1.

The remaining hands are left in succession at the proper points on the-dial-platc in a similar manner, the minute-hand, operated by the cam wheel H, moving outwards a short distance for each, as before described.

After all of the indicating-hands have been left at the proper points on the d-ial-plate the disk 11 bears against the widest portion of the cam-wheel, the minute-hand G having been thus pushed outwards considerably beyond the diabplate, but at the next partial revolution of the cam-wheel, the disk will, by the action of its spring, I, be forced inwards aghinst the narrow portion of the cam, and the hand G be drawn back accordingly.

Atihe end of the trip, the person whose duty it is, can, by examining tho dial-plate of the indicator, readily see whether the car has been running regularly, and if not, determine at what points improper stoppages have been made, or where the speed of the car has been improperly accelerated or retarded.

For instance, if a stoppage of five minutes is made before arriving at the first street, the minute-hand of the indicator willstill continue to move, while the wheel J remains stationary, consequently the first'indicatinghand It will be left at the figure IV instead'oi' at the figure Ill: of the dial-plate, thus showing that five minutes have been lost between the starting-point and the first street.

If the speed of the car is then increased one-third, so as to enable it to arrive at the second cross-street at the end oi'half an hour, the second indicating-hand it will be left ut-thc,propcr point, or figure VI, of the dish plate, thus surely indicating'to-t-he examiner at the end of'the trip the points between which the speed has been thus improperly increased. I l I Neglect or inattentio'n on the part of theconductor of the car is-tbus readily detected, and a more regular rate of speed is consequently maintained. I

It will be evident that the number of indicating-hands. It may be increased or diminished at pleasure, so as to indicate the time of passing any desired number of streets, the blocks 1' being properly adjusted, and their number correspondingly increased or diminished.

In some cases, instead of adjusting the blocks r, they may be brought to the desired position in respect to the arm a by turning the wheel J, rrhich is hung loosely to the stem 1). This may be done readily by throwing it out of gear with the pinion q, the hub of the latter being pressed upon so as to move it longitudinally upon 'its spindle, as'shown in ti'g. '7.

Iclaim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The minute-hand G and its 'pin,j, turned by clock-work, as described, and moved towards or from the dial-plate by a cam-wheel, H, in combination with loose indicating-hands It, which are turned by the minutehand, and released at certain determined points on the dial-plnte, all substsntially in the manner and for the purpose specified. s p

2. The wheel J,having adjustable blocks 1, end being operated through the medium of the gearing described by a wire, l, connected with the wheel or axle of a street-railway car.

3. The above, in combination with the arms 8' t, and u of s. spindle, K, and with the arm 10 of a. spindle, L, for starting and arresting the motion of the cam-wheel H, as described.

4. The cam-wheel H, operated by a. coiled spring, g, or its equivalent, for imparting a longitudinal sliding motion to the portion 0 of the spindle 1?, for the purpose specified.

5. The mannensubstantislly as herein described, of securing the indicating-hands [I to the stem b, so that they may be turned either separately or together upon the said stem.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

V J. KNIGHT. Witnesses: Jom: Wm'rs,

W. J, R, DELANY. 

